By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net,
Lucknow: The fragile peace between two Muslim sects-Shias and Sunnis was once again shattered after sporadic incidents of violence in old city since Sunday night. Stone pelting, sloganeering continued with police resorting to mild lathi charge and firing tear gas shells to control the unruly groups. Nearly two dozen persons were injured including one with pellet injuries in the violence.
Nearly all the shops remained closed with traffic reduced to minimum on Monday. However, the Hardoi road and main Nakhas road were open while police kept a vigil on the labyrinth bylanes.
The violence started on Sunday while the Sunni Muslims were taking out their Madh-e Sahaba procession to mark the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad on Sunday. As the procession was well covered and heavy security enforced enroute no violence occurred. However, in the afternoon of Sunday, there was a minor clash between the two groups in Gadhi Peer Khan locality over carrying the flags of an anjuman. It was timely controlled by the police but it was the genesis of the violence.
During the intervening night of Sunday/Monday, violence again erupted. The epicenter being Dargah Hazrat Abbas located in Rustam Nagar locality. Hundreds of people assembled there from both the groups resorting to sloganeering. Police reached the scene and tried to pacify the mob. It later fired tear gas shells and mild lathi charge to disperse the crowd and keep them indoors. Firing from the mob was also reported during the violence. Shutters of several shops including a tailor shop, a photo studio, a spectacles shop, a tea vendor in the area were broken by the miscreants.
Several persons were injured in the violence. Three of them were admitted to hospitals including one Bilal, a resident of Karabala Diyanuddaula locality was beaten up by police when he ventured out and was admitted in Fehmina Nursing Home with head injuries. Another Rizwanul aka Shabbu of Gadhi Peer Khan with pellet injuries in his hand was admitted in Trauma Center while one Raja was admitted to Balrampur Hospital after getting injured in stone pelting.
Soon the news of violence spread like wild fire and engulfed the whole old city. Violence was also reported from Garhi Peer Khan, Amberganj, Baba Hazara Bagh, Ghanta Beg ki Ghadiya, Top Darwaza, Akbari Gate, Katra Abu Turab, Billauchpura, Gullu Ki Takiya, Mehboobganj, Wazirbagh and several other places. Stone pelting was also witnessed at Hussainabad, Muftiganj and Satkhanda locality. Mostly there were stone pelting from both sides and occasional thrashing up of people caught in the cross fire.
With a depleted police force as most of them are engaged in election duty, it was hard for the administration to control the situation. DM AK Sagar, DIG DK Thakur, ASP (West) Rakesh Singh and ADM (West) OP Pathak remained on their toes running from one place to another after receiving information.
Due to the violence most of the schools closed earlier than their scheduled time. Some of them even announced holiday for Tuesday. Tension was palpable on every face with concern about the night. People in the affected localities did not sleep whole night and were seen sitting on their rooftops. Equal number of people were also on the road only to get information about the latest developments.
Meanwhile, district administration did not announce imposition of curfew while it maintained that section 144 is already clamped due to election process. ADM OP Pathak stated that security forces are on alert and the mischief mongers will be severely dealt. Situation still remains tense with sporadic incidents of violence being reported from several parts.